


Sixty for Sixty

by sanguinity



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-06-01 01:34:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6495571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanguinity/pseuds/sanguinity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>60 word ficlets for (some of) the 60 canon stories. Written for <a href="http://sherlock60.livejournal.com/profile">Sherlock60</a> on LJ.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. STUD: Fooled Twice

**Author's Note:**

> Individual warnings are given, as appropriate, on the individual ficlets.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taken in not just once, but twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Old woman be damned!" said Sherlock Holmes, sharply. "We were the old women to be so taken in. It must have been a young man, and an active one, too..."_

"...them cobbles were a mite harder than sawdust! Happily, a cab is nearer the ground than horseback."

"But Annie! Telling him about the circus?"

"Now don't fret, Sally, and give us a kiss. There, hand me my spangles. Smidge o' truth always made a lie go smoother. And what clever dick is gonna think to ask for a lady trick-rider?"


	2. STUD: Buchanan's Blunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s almost like Jefferson Hope didn’t know a thing about 1860 Utah.

"Carson City! What's wrong with this man of your'n, running for Carson City with Camp Floyd just there?"

"Have pity, her pa just died! Her man may come yet."

"And where will he try taking her this time, the moon?"

"Ems, hush.”

“Hrmph. Listen, girl, when that man come back, you ride south. What's that Army even here for, else?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Command, size, and locations varied, but most years from 1857 onward, the U.S. Army maintained a not-entirely-friendly presence near Salt Lake City. From 1858 to 1861, [Camp Floyd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Floyd_/_Stagecoach_Inn_State_Park_and_Museum) was the single largest concentration of army troops in the U.S., and by the time you threw in all its civilian support, was half the population of Salt Lake City. It would have been only a hard day-or-so's ride away, if Lucy and Jefferson changed horses.


	3. STUD: Sister Wives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ugly memories at Lucy’s graveside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same characters as the previous, less than a month later.

“Don't think much of a man who'd steal a ring off a dead girl's finger, but not his willing betrothed from a house."

"Poor thing was already married, Ems."

"Shouldn't've mattered. Wouldn't've stopped me."

"That so? Don't rightly recall you stealing me out of this house. Recall you marrying Enoch yourself."

“…you ever gonna forgive me that?"

“Some day, yes.”


	4. CARD: Just Two Good Women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _A very placid and respectable maiden lady of fifty, leading a most retired life, with so few acquaintances or correspondents that it is a rare event for her to receive anything through the post..._

Susan was wearing mourning. 

"Forgive my intrusion, Miss Cushing," I stammered, "but I saw in the papers—" 

She blanched, and I took her elbow. Our skirts swirled together around our feet. 

_—and I couldn't be sure you'd send for me._

"Miss Collins," she said. She gave me her chilled hand, and I brought it to my cheek to warm it.


	5. BERY: Hobson's Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The futures lost and gained in the all-important character reference...

"...so there's your character." 

The girl burst into tears. 

"Lucy," I reproved, "Mr. Holder—" 

"No, ma'am, I'm grateful, I am! Yesterday I thought it'd be gaol, or turned out with no character. I said yes to Frank, I didn't see no other option, but now..." 

I hugged the girl, and prayed her next mistress would be safer than the last.


	6. SILV: Common Interests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs Straker and Mrs Derbyshire meet.

During the reading of John's will, I idly imagined the so-called Mrs Derbyshire in the dress Mr Holmes described: luxuriant dove-grey silk, ostrich-feathers caressing her throat and wrists—  
  
I glanced away, my pulse quickening, and cursed.  
  
John had used us both poorly: surely that was sufficient introduction? I invited her to meet the horse that had unwittingly avenged us both.


	7. SPEC: Concerning Opal Tiaras

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Watson."

"Helen's finally sleeping, thanks to that young doctor and his sleeping draught." 

"He seems a likely addition to the firm. Not that Mr. Holmes told him the first thing about our case. I knew he'd be discreet, Honoria, but an opal tiara!" 

"Do you remember how he blushed?" 

"Bless him, yes." 

"...and bless that bother about that 'opal tiara,' too."


	8. MUSG: Hurlstone House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The girl was taken to her room, still screaming and sobbing..._

A planet of easy pickings, they said. Just plunk yourself down anywhere, they said. Offer up hidden treasure, and they'll murder each other for the privilege of walking down your maw.  
  
So I sits myself down. Toss out a treasure map.  
  
_Nothing._  
  
For centuries, not one nibble.  
  
But no sooner than I get a tummy-full, along comes some busybody _detective..._


	9. VALL: The Dynamics of Intimidation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it?"_

"He's a made a laughingstock of us! I told you he would, he never earned that chair." 

"Not with a schoolboy's essay on Pascal's triangle, no." The dons exchanged grim glances. 

"How am I meant to review this gibberish?" 

"Exactly as I intend to. 'To my deepest sorrow, my esteemed colleague's latest opus _flies far beyond my ability to comprehend_...'"


	10. GREE: Some Particulars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _...if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be avenged._
> 
> Warning for intimate partner violence.

On discovering her brother's torture, Sophia finally understood: it was never _her_ defects that caused Harold to act so. She cowered before his anger and promised obedience, to be good, to come away quietly. Not for her own life, but Paul's. 

Harold apologised later, as he always did. 

But this time she recognised the crocodile's tears, and did not forgive.


	11. SIGN: First of Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _She opened a flat box as she spoke, and showed me six of the finest pearls that I had ever seen._
> 
> And yet if you check the dates, there ought to have been seven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A prologue to my Mary Morstan/Kate Whitney 221B, "[Prologue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2891429)," which is itself a prologue to my "[So Keen a Sympathy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2891915)."
> 
> Warning for unhappy wlw.

I stroked the gold of the chain, of Kate's throat.  
  
"Mary, you musn't. You might need it someday, it's the only thing you have."  
  
I shook my head. The pearl was insufficient for our little house; I could have no other need for it.   
  
"My something borrowed, then," she pleaded.  
  
Both chain and throat blurred, just like our little house.


End file.
